Contaminated

The Scrap

The hot sun beat down on my exposed neck as I neared the Heap. The glare from the sand was almost enough to make one go blind if they didn't have some kind of protective eye gear. But even with a pair of almost blackout quality sunglasses, the light was a bit much. When you looked over the desert during a sunrise or a sunset, it was beautiful, and you could see things, like pieces of scrap lying in the sand and being plucked from the ground by avid creatures who still had enough left in them to carry the shiny things back to their nests, wherever those may be. At midday, however, the sun brought nothing but death and sunburn.

The Heap, as we called it, was our one source of tradeable materials, so I wasn't complaining about the sun, even though the scales on the back of my neck had peeled off once already. I wore a shemagh to keep it out of my face and to protect my nose and mouth from the sand. 

Finding something of real value in the Heap meant a good haul at the end of the day. Though, with my luck, I wasn't likely to get anywhere with my findings. Even if I did find anything of value, I was likely to be robbed of it before I was even halfway home. Bandits out here could smell money from miles away, the filthy, lazy, thieves. 

Have I introduced myself? Well, no. My name is Aura Len Sith. Anybody who knows me just calls me Sith, though, because they know full well I could nail the backs of their heads from 500 yards if they called me Aura.(It sounds like a hippie name, for pete's sake.) You probably already guessed, but I'm a dragon. Arctic and desert, to be exact. The arctic part is absolute hell out here during the day, but it levels off because the nighttime is surprisingly cold. I'm mostly blue, with grey plates  running down my chest. My eyes are bright green, or so I've been told. Okay, now that we've covered my looks, we'll return to the part where I'm still walking and still unbearably hot. I swear, if I could sweat, I'd be drowning.

Like I said, the sun was beating down on me, and even with my desert descent, it was getting to be a little much. I was grateful to get into the shade of the Heap.

Once I entered the big metal fence, everything was free for all. I started rooting around, trying to find anything of value, some working tech, maybe a conveniently shaped piece of sheet metal for my roof. You'd think that after all these years we'd've cleaned out the Heap, since it was all scrap metal and spare parts, and you know how people on a desert continent need things like that(think Jakku from Star Wars).

But as it turns out, the Heap is actually a giant trash pile several miles in diameter, which meant that it was actually constantly being refilled with waste and scrap from some refineries not far from here. Honestly, the things people throw away.

I was rooting through a large pile of rusted car parts when I heard it.

A loud humming sound, like something large charging up.

I stood up straight and turned my head to look over my shoulder. There didn't seem to be anything there but a huge pile of old tires, but the humming was still there, and getting louder.

Slowly, I walked around the tires and saw a large object covered by a tarp. I walked up to it and lifted the corner of the plastic cover.

I was right about one thing: it was a generator all right. But not like any generator I'd ever seen.

It was a huge mass of twisted pipes and exposed wires that was about three feet taller than me and maybe six feet in diameter. How it was even running and what it even ran was beyond me.

At the center there seemed to be some sort of metal scrap, but it, unlike the rest of the junk around here, which was rusted and dusty, was easily the shiniest thing I'd ever seen.

Something like that could go for a lot of money.

So, against all my better judgement, I reached inside, careful to avoid any sparking wires touching my paw, and pulled out the scrap. It came out with relative ease, like you would snap a Lego in place. Immediately, the humming died down and the sparking stopped.

I was wrong. It wasn't a piece of scrap metal. It was a large chunk of crystal, roughly the size of my paw. And it was easily the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

It pulsated with green and blue and red and all manner of colors, and it was smoother and harder than scales.

I was so captivated looking at it that I almost didn't notice the voices drifting around the corner until it was too late.

"...Honestly can't use it 'till we have all the pieces ready."

"But if we used it sooner we could cripple everyone and then we could find all the pieces a lot easier."

"Boss has his reasons, Miller."

"Why we gotta kiss up to that-- Hey!"

Too late. I had tried to slink around the corner while they were talking, but the one named Miller saw me.

I turned and saw two humans, both heavily armed and buff. Well, crap.

"Whoops."

"'Whoops' is right. what in the heck do you think you're doing over here, reptile?"

I tried to put on a defiant face. "None of your business. Go away before I burn your face off."

"Us go away? You're the one trespassing on our territory, lady. Now scram, and don't come back. If we catch you over here again, you will regret it."

I slunk off without saying a word(not bothering to point out that there was no "territory " in the Heap, it was 'take as much as you can carry and see how far you can get') and breathed a silent sigh of relief. They hadn't noticed the missing crystal from what was obviously their machine just yet.

Still, I thought, I should probably get while the getting's good.

I loaded up my sled with all the day's finds, which wasn't much, just an old patched up car transmission, a semi-working carburetor, and the crystal, and headed back to my home across the sandy waste. The sun had already set and the sand was rapidly cooling off, releasing its heat into the night air, so my calloused paws were met with powdery grains of sand that soothed them nicely. It was getting cold and my arctic was kicking in, meaning, bum-bada-bum, I was warm-blooded. Yep. A warm-blooded reptile. Imagine that.

I realized that I wasn't going to get home tonight, so I stopped to set up camp.

Had I known what would occur, I would have gone straight home without stopping.

I dug some tinder out of my knapsack and set it on the ground in a teepee formation. As for fire, I let out a small stream of plasma that was more than enough to get me a roaring fire going.

I pulled a packet of Bratwursts out of my bag as well and began to toast them over the flames.

There was no food I loved more than those sausages. I could never have enough of them, which was unfortunate, since I could barely get them over here because they were so freaking expensive.

When they were done roasting and the smell was driving me insane and I could stand it no longer, I chowed down on them like a dog and licked my claws clean. I took a swig of water and settled down.

It wasn't fifteen minutes before I was asleep.

And it wasn't five before I woke up surrounded by men with guns.